Even Walls Fall Down
by darlingharbour
Summary: The fact that it had taken Zane approximately one day to break down the walls Riley built around himself, and his heart, was astounding. Inspired by the song "Walls" by Tom Petty. Oneshot. Riley/Zane.


**A/N: Full of fluffy goodness. Hope you enjoy! xo.**

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_Even Walls Fall Down_

It struck him one day. Suddenly, abruptly, spontaneously. Etc, etc. Simply put, the thought occurred to him out of the blue.

What thought, you may ask? By now, it was more of a fact than a thought, really, because it was true. He knew it, he felt it. The fact that it had taken Zane approximately one day to break down the walls Riley had built around himself (and his heart). It was astounding. To him, anyways.

In prospective, those protective walls may have not been completely broken down, but they were lowered. That had been the most progress anyone had even made with him, ever. Forget the hot life-guard, forget Peter (although he owed his bestfriend some credit for his new self-confidence), Zane had him entirely exposed.

Exposed, as in, vulnerable. Vulnerable to heartache, to hurt. To any other tragedy as such. And as much as these possibilities scared him, Riley didn't care as much as his older self would have.

In fact, he didn't care at all.

If being in danger of all those risks meant having Zane by his side, he'd take the damn chances. As cheesy as that might sound, it was honest.

The wondering boy took all of these realizations in. It was like a pill, hard to swallow. Beautifully hard to swallow. Eventually, he'd get used to the feeling. Of course he would. One smile from the younger teenage boy would send him careening into the pits of forgetfulness. It always did.

It also propelled him into the golden horizon of giddiness, of infatuation. The latter always growing, because within him, he knows it's blossoming into love.

It had to be, and if it weren't, he'd slap himself for using the word 'blossoming' to describe a relationship. That unsettled him a tad bit, but he recovered from the sickeningly sweet feeling. Sometimes too much was too much, no matter how happy you were around a loved one.

Riley chuckled as he listened to inner arguement he was holding with himself. It was odd, but it was amusing. Considering there was voices coming from his (seemingly insane) mind.

"Watcha doin'?" Came an oh-so familiar tone, one which instantly brought a (bigger) grin to his face. It proved to always do so.

Zane sat himself down beside his boyfriend on his bed, laughing merrily at the sight of Riley with a half mischevious, half cheerful expression gleaming in his eyes.

The star athlete gave him a quick, but nonetheless loving, peck on the lips before responding. "Thinking of you," he confessed shyly, knowing fully well that this would earn an adoring snigger from his lover. It rang true, he heard the almost musical sound of laughter come from Zane, merely seconds after his reply.

"Aw, Riles, I was just thinking of _you_." he smirked, displaying his perfect, pearly white teeth. He was absolutely flawless, Riley thought, twisting his body to gaze wonderously at the other teenager next to him.

He was incredible, inside and out. And after five (amazing) months together, he had known this during the first week. What he was about to ask himself was overly repeated throughout every single romance movie, novel, and what-not in the world, but how did he get so lucky?

"Riley?"

Immediately, the unsually thoughtful jock snapped out of his stream of cognizance, and found himself staring at Zane. He blushed, and turned away, embarrassed to be caught in such a trance. He must've looked like a fool. A lovestruck one at that.

But it appeared to be otherwise.

"...You're adorable when you're in thought."

Again, a modest shade of pink crept to the larger boy's cheeks as his ocean-like blue eyes met Zane's striking chocolate brown. "Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"Am not."

"Are too, and if you disagree... you don't love me!"

He grinned again. Zane's rare immature and elementary outbursts were utterly cute. They happened occasionally, and he couldn't say he was put off by them. He liked seeing him act like such a kindergardener. And instead of arguing further with the preschool-ish logic, he settled with planting a sensual, soft kiss on his love's strangely, but normally luscious lips.

It ended almost five minutes afterwards, the two almost getting lost in the passion. Five whole months, and the desire remained like it was the first day the had first pressed their lips against one another's. Neither knew for a fact that the feeling wouldn't fade or lessen. They were that much still crazy about eachother.

"Okay, I agree... only because I _do_ love you," Riley remarked, provoking a infamous heart-stopping smile from Zane. Who, in turn, leaned forward and whispered caringly in his ear.

"I love you, too."

And as the two embraced again, Riley reflected on his earlier ponderings. It was fact. No matter how exposed he was to heartbreak, he couldn't feel any safer than in Zane's arms.

_Cause you got a heart so big  
It could crush this town  
And I can't hold out forever  
Even walls fall down _


End file.
